Confronting Our Feelings
by Raye of the Sunshine
Summary: After the Winter War, the shinigami are restless. So Yamamoto-soutaichou sends them to Konoha for a vacation, a few at a time. Out of the first group, Orihime meets Hinata. What's to happen when they start talking about the boys they love?


THERE ARE NO PAIRINGS IN THIS. IF I GET ANY COMMENTS ON HOW ICHIHIME SUCKS OR ICHIGO WILL NEVER LOVE HER OR ANYTHING ABOUT THE COUPLES IN THIS (which, by the way, there are NONE), I WILL BE INFURIATED. Just leave me out of your stupid arguments, okay?

Hey everyone! I'm sorry that I haven't uploaded anything in more than a month. -avoids pieces of fruit- See, I've been at my cousin's house in Iowa... and, erm, well, I didn't get any bits of inspiration for _Fire and Ice_. I DO know how to make it begin and give it at least one middle scene, but the ending is beyond me. As you've probably noticed, I suck at beginnings and endings... Beginnings more so, perhaps, but all the same. I will try to make this ending better than the last chapter.

Now, about this fanfiction. I don't own Naruto or Bleach (I think we've already established that). This is purely about Hinata and Orihime meeting and talking about the boys they love. And along with that, encouraging each other to confess to them. Read and find out what happens!

* * *

Hinata looked around her nervously. For the oddest reason, Lady Tsunade had insisted that she and the rest of Konoha 12 meet other people. And by other people, the slug princess had insisted shingami. Apparently the First Hokage had made a really old pact with some place called the Soul Society, and the shinigami there came to Konoha every now and then to send on dead souls. Since the shinigami were getting restless, the Captain-Commander had decided to send over two or three people at a time and Tsunade had to choose someone to keep the said person entertained or… well, just to keep the shinigami busy. Tsunade had told the Konoha 12 that the less-controlled soldiers were wreaking havoc, and their human allies were getting bored as well. So they had better fit the order and keep the shinigami busy.

Hinata considered herself lucky, however, when her meeting partner was a human and from a first glance, a lot like her. The girl was currently making tea, and Hinata watched her quietly. She made no move to make conversation, and neither did the other, perfectly content to pour the cups in silence.

"There! I hope you like it, it's my favorite blend of green tea." She handed the cup to Hinata, who took it with a quiet "thank you".

Orihime sat back, wondering why she, Sado-kun, and Ishida-kun had been sent first. It was true that they were humans, and were getting restless, but she didn't think that they should have gotten this mini-vacation first. Captain Hitsugaya had looked like he needed a break last time she had seen him, as had Renji (strangely enough). She took a quick glance around the spacious room in Hinata's quarters. It had several cushions, the low table they were seated at, and several stands displaying pictures or vases of flowers.

Plenty of the pictures displayed Hinata with two other males, sometimes including another woman. _Perfect conversation starter! _Orihime thought. She turned to Hinata, who had been looking out the window, and asked, "Say, who are the people in those pictures?"

Hinata started, but followed Orihime's gaze. "They are my teammates," she said. "Kiba Inuzuka is the one with the jacket and the dog, whose name is Akamaru. Shino Aburame is the other male. He's always quiet. And the remaining woman is our sensei… But she has a baby now, so she doesn't train with us anymore." She paused a moment. "It's not like she needed to anyway, since we were all Chuunin."

"What do you mean by that?" Orihime asked. She turned away from the photos, saving one question about them.

"When an entire team reaches the rank of Chuunin, their Jounin sensei doesn't need to train with them anymore. Sometimes teams don't get together anymore, but most teams still function as a unit… the bonds they create are too strong to simply drop."

"So it must have been a really bad experience as a team in order to stop hanging out," Orihime summarized.

"Yes, that's very good." Hinata smiled and took another sip of her tea. "The tea is good, by the way."

"Really? Thank you! But I have another question." She nodded to another photo. "Who is the blond in these pictures? I think I saw him as we came here, but…" Orihime looked at Hinata out of the corner of her eye.

Hinata was blushing lightly. "T-that's Naruto-kun… He's o-one of the strongest n-ninja in the village." She blushed harder, remembering her confession.

Orihime grinned. _Jackpot!_ she sang in her mind. It was always a good idea to talk about boys. It proved to be wonderful bonding. "So, besides being one of the strongest, what's he like?"

Hinata blushed even deeper. A tomato had nothing on her reddened face. "He cares deeply for his friends, but he's very loud. Naruto-kun is always training hard, and he loves ramen." A cloud of sadness passed over her face, the blush slowly disappearing. "When he was little, everyone hated him. He was always alone, but he never gave up and in time gained the most of, if not all, village's affection." Her face grew brighter at the thought, as did the blush.

"You love him, don't you," Orihime said softly. Just like her, Hinata was in love with a boy who didn't seem capable of seeing it.

"Am I that obvious?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah. But don't worry, I know how you feel… You just can't seem to tell him for fear of ruining your friendship, and besides, he already likes someone else." She was really talking to herself at that point, but Hinata was paying attention.

"Who is he?" she asked quietly. "And are you sure he likes someone else?"

"Of course he does!" Orihime cried, her back snapping ramrod straight. "How could he _not _like Kuchiki-san? She's strong, beautiful, and nice, and to top it all off, she can easily make Kurosaki-kun snap out of his funk!"

Hinata was surprised. "Well, you never know. Have you told him?"

Orihime's eyes fell, and she slouched. "No, I haven't. Like I said, there's no reason to ruin our friendship, right? Besides, he doesn't feel that way about me so there isn't any point in telling him anything."

"But you don't know that," Hinata reasoned. "I didn't want to tell Naruto-kun for _years_; anyone in the village can tell you that. But one day, not all that long ago, I confessed. Admittedly, it was in battle, and I didn't get any sort of reaction from him… But Sakura-san said that his chakra went haywire and he was out of control." It was not safe to tell her about the Kyuubi. "I don't know if it was because of me, but it's nice to think so, right?" She gave the girl a smile.

Orihime shrugged. "I guess so, but what did he do after the battle and after he came to his senses? Did he tell you how he felt?" She had to know what happened, just in case the same was going to happen to her. They may have killed Aizen and Tousen, sent Ichimaru to jail for a lifetime (Matsumoto had pulled some strings with the really reluctant help of Captain Hitsugaya apparently to lighten his punishment), and killed a lot of the Espada and the Arrancar, but it didn't mean that the rest of the more intelligent Hollows were done with making war against the Soul Society. What if her confession (that is, if she ever made one) happened the same way?

Hinata blushed, and shook her head. "He's taken to going on so many missions, that it's hard to see him for more than a day at a time in the village, because he'll just disappear again. I haven't been able to talk to him in any of the amount of time he has in the village."

Orihime was surprised. She was brave enough to confess, but still hadn't found out how the boy felt? "Then next time he comes back from a mission, be waiting at the gate for him and make him talk to you," she said, devising the plan already. "If he tries to avoid you, go after him! Demand to know how he feels!" She paused for a moment, excitement settling itself again. "After all, he can't just leave you hanging, it's not something a gentleman would do."

Hinata stared at her. "G-go _after him_?!" she said, surprised. "I can't do that! I'd surely faint!" Though that was partly a lie… she hadn't ever fainted all that much.

"Yes," Orihime said fiercely. "After being brave enough to confess, why aren't you brave enough to get an answer? The worst he can say is that he doesn't like you that way." She stopped, looking thoughtful. "When does his next mission end?"

"Today, why?" Hinata answered automatically, before gasping and covering her mouth.

Orihime grinned evilly, and proceeded to grab Hinata's arm and direct her out the door, ignoring Hinata's cries. "You're going to be there for him, whether you like it or not!"

"No! Let me go!" Hinata cried, struggling. It should have been easy for her, a ninja, to pull her arms out of her grasp, but Orihime's grip was only clutching her harder.

Several of her family members were arriving to investigate the commotion, which made Hinata feel relieved. "What are you doing to Hinata-sama?" Neji demanded, Ten-Ten right behind him. They looked like they had been training.

"Making her confront her fears," Orihime said, shrugging slightly, not loosening her grip on Hinata's arm.

"Is her fear blonde, loud, and coming home today?" Ten-Ten asked politely as several of the Hyuugas activated their bloodline limit.

"Well, yeah. Now, please move. We're in a hurry." She took a step forward, and wordlessly three lights appeared from her hair and formed a shield in front of her and Hinata.

"You will not forcefully take Hinata-sama!" a random cousin of hers cried, charging. Orihime's eyebrows furrowed, but she pressed on in spite of the oncoming attack. The cousin's Gentle Fist hit her shield, cracking it for a second before it returned to its perfect orange glow.

"Hate to break it to you, but I've faced stronger hits," Orihime said calmly, and exited the estate.

They would have followed her and fought on a larger scale (surely that shield couldn't withstand that much pressure), but Neji stopped them. "It's for the best. After all, this is Naruto we're talking about." His family grumbled, but diffused out of the courtyard and back to their own rooms. "She'll be fine," he muttered, and he and Ten-Ten returned to their training.

It was a little strange for the Hyuuga heiress to be pulled around the way she was, but no one made a move forward. Hinata was frantically looking for one of her friends; surely they'd save her from doing what Orihime was insisting she do! She activated her Byakugan, searching. Unfortunately, they were near the gates and she ended up seeing Naruto returning from his mission instead. She groaned, but accepted her fate. "Orihime-san, please let me go. I have no choice anymore."

Orihime gave her an encouraging smile. "Go get him tiger!" she said, shoving Hinata forward and scampering over to the gate keepers, as if very interested in them.

Hinata saw Naruto's eyes widening as the person waiting clearly for him wasn't someone he expected. He took an extra leap and landed two feet away from her, surprise gone (or masked) and a huge grin on his face. "Hinata! Wow, I never expected you to meet me!"

"Well, I…" she sighed, tugged a little on her hair, and decided to get straight to the point. "While it's nice to see you back, I still need to know how you feel about me Naruto-kun. It took a lot of effort to tell you, so I think I deserve at least an answer, even if it's one-worded." She gave a shaky breath, proud of her second speech to him without stuttering.

The grin fell. "Well, uh, I kinda figured you were joking when you said that…"

Hinata's eyes widened, and then she glared at him with the infamous Hyuuga Glare. "You WHAT?!" she screamed. "You thought I was _kidding?!_ I would never kid about my feelings! How dare you think that way!" Her hands were clenched in trembling fists. He thought that she'd throw her feelings around like that?

Naruto bit back a yelp of surprise; Hinata was always quiet and shy, wasn't she? He gave her a saddened smile, and spoke. "I'm sorry Hinata, but you don't understand where I'm coming from. People don't usually like me, let alone love me."

"The village sees you as their hero," Hinata said fiercely. "As do I." Her face softened. "But I understand. Of course you don't know how to feel… I'm sorry for forcing you onto a hot seat and for yelling. It's just, well, it's taken me many years to tell you." She felt tears sting her eyes.

"Then you'll have to give me time to appreciate it," he answered. "Want to go get ramen after I report to the Hokage? I think that out of all my friends, I know you and Shino the least. I'd better make up for it." Naruto gave her a trademark grin.

She smiled, and the stinging went away. "We will see you at Ichiraku's." Seeing his look of surprise, she quickly added, "I'll explain there."

He nodded, flashed another grin, and bounded off to the Hokage's office. Orihime then came bounding over, smiling. "There! That wasn't too hard, now was it?"

"He thought I was joking," she answered sadly.

"You clearly fixed that misconception," Orihime giggled.

"Naruto-kun didn't exactly say yes, but he didn't exactly say no. I take it that you're planning on using these results with your own relationship?"

Orihime blushed, embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess I am. But all the same, at least he's giving you a chance."

"That's true." Hinata brightened considerably at the thought. "Come on; let's be there when Naruto-kun arrives."

Orihime followed, and sure enough, the three had a fairly good time. She discovered that Naruto was a real sweetheart, and that Hinata was a lot less shy than she originally believed. Naruto excitedly spoke about his mission, and Orihime described some of the adventures she and her friends had gone on. Then they spoke about relationships of their friends; joking about Shikamaru and his being one of the more popular males in and out of the village and after some explaining, who Captain Hitsugaya was going to choose out of his handful of suitors (including Ichigo's little sister and his childhood friend).

Orihime was a little disappointed to leave her newfound companions behind when her eight days were over, but the others needed a break as well and she couldn't be selfish. She promised to Hinata that she'd somehow send a message whenever she got around to telling Ichigo her feelings. After the few days getting readjusted to the climate change, she headed over to the park where she and her friends (being Sado-kun, Ishida-kun, and Kurosaki-kun—Kuchiki-san was being forced into coming to their town like every other shinigami since the war was over) were having a picnic. The boys had _specifically _told her that they would provide the food and all she needed to do was bring a chocolate cake for dessert. They had a relaxing time and eventually everyone had laid on their backs and fallen asleep.

She found herself back in her gloomy cell, but pushed against the wall. Ulquiorra had a huge clump of her hair in one of his hands, which he tossed to the floor before her eyes. Orihime tried to scream, but found that Grimmjow had covered her mouth with one hand and was tearing at her clothes with the other. Ulquiorra joined him and soon she found herself—

"Inoue! Inoue, what's wrong?" Ichigo's harsh voice jarred into her dream, and she was shaken fully awake.

With a sob, she wrapped her arms around him and cried. "Kurosaki-kun, oh Kurosaki-kun," she sniffled. Ichigo seemed surprised with the intimate contact, but decided that she needed comfort, so placed his arms carefully around her and tried calming her down.

"What happened? You were crying in your sleep," he said carefully.

"I had a horrid nightmare," she let out. "They were pulling on my hair… and my clothes…"

"Who was?" Ichigo demanded.

"Ul-Ulquiorra and Gr-Grimmjow." She let out a gasp as he squeezed her. "Ku-Kurosaki-kun, that hurts." He released his grip, and she fully let go.

"Sorry Inoue, but the thought of those two hurting you again made me angry." His scowl deepened.

"They're gone Kurosaki-kun, nothing to worry about." She smiled; he made her happy again. "Kurosaki-kun… there's something I have to tell you."

He looked at her. "I'm listening."

She couldn't back down now. Hinata had been able to do it, hadn't she? And Hinata had loved Naruto longer than she had loved Kurosaki-kun. So she would do it. "Kurosaki-kun," she said in a measured and serious tone of voice, "I love you. I love you with all my heart. Thank you for taking such good care of me." She bowed, stood up, and took the cake container. "I'll give you a few days to let that sink in before I get your answer." She sent him a grateful smile and left, forming her letter to Hinata in her head.

* * *

Thank you if you read this far! :) So, how was it? I tried not to be specific about pairings. Naruto doesn't pronounce his love, Shikamaru isn't going out with anyone but his choices are discussed as are Hitsugaya's (heh heh, the boy has at least four; Matsumoto (which would be weird...), Momo (plausible... they grew up together after all), and Karin (who has my vote waha), and even Rukia for the strangest reason). Orihime insists she thinks Ichigo's in love with Rukia, but what do we know? She left before he could say anything about his feelings.

I wanted to strictly keep to the English dub... but I didn't want to let go of 'Kurosaki-kun' and 'Miss Rukia' just sounded weird. So I kept the suffixes.


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